scum

Just about every time I read this story in the gospels about Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple I try to share it here.

I do it for one reason:

Jesus hung out with "scum" - "notorious sinners".

And it seems that there were many of these kinds of people who followed around after Him.

I hope each time I share this story it will encourage each of us to ask this simple question:

Because of our connection to Jesus, are we the kind of person that the "scum" & "notorious sinners" of our day actually make an effort to hang out around us?

Mark 2

13 Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 

14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. 

“Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. 

So Levi got up and followed him.

15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, 

along with many tax collectors and other notorious sinners. 

(There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 

16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, 

“Why does he eat with such scum?”

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, 

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 

I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, 

but those who know they are sinners.”